Job Prospects after Pilot Training

Job prospects for pilots after graduating from flight shool – Will I get a job after flight training?

It’s a question we are asked all the time! See what one of our Captain’s has to say…

This is one of the most common questions we get asked. It’s understandable that people want reassurance about their future prospects given the amount of money they are investing in their flight training, but there are never any guarantees.

2016 has seen one of the most buoyant markets for both freshly graduated and experienced pilots in many years. You could well walk straight into a decent First Officer job but this won’t always be the case for everyone. The aircraft manufactures and airlines across the globe are predicting a pilot shortage, with some saying we are already at that point. It’s common to hear this rebuffed though, with some pilots having gained their frozen ATPL years ago, but are still looking for an airline position.

The reality is that holding a frozen ATPL doesn’t mean you are automatically entitled to a job with a commercial airline, even if they need pilots. They want the right person for the job not just a licence holder. Reputable airlines would rightly rather recruit no-one than a person with a license but with the wrong attitude and aptitude.

Getting to the point of holding a frozen ATPL, passing the theory exams, flight skills tests and multi crew co-operation course, isn’t easy, but it is something that many people can achieve if they invest enough time and money into it. Whilst many complete the training to a high standard, the end product isn’t always a well rounded, commercially minded, enthusiastic, potential First Officer. To be successful after being issued your licence, you need to understand exactly what sort of person the airline is looking for in their pilots and this isn’t just being able to operate an aircraft to instrument rating standards, it’s much, much more.

Some people have all the desirable criteria, but just don’t perform well at airline assessments or interviews. The good news is that this is something that can be improved upon and there are many companies out there who will help you improve (Flightdeckfriend.com is one of them!). You will have invested tens of thousands of pounds in your flight training; spending a few hundred pounds more could significantly boost your job prospects. The big airlines will only interview once for a recruitment campaign so don’t wait for the rejection email to come through before deciding to invest a bit more in a career that will hopefully last you a lifetime. The time to do it is before your interview!

Other prospective candidates struggle to get invited to the initial airline selection. Again there could be an element of luck involved (your application getting read by the right person at the right time) but there are steps you can take to significantly improve your chances of being invited to an assessment, and this bit is really the hardest part! We receive loads of unsolicited CVs and Covering Letters from people asking to join us, and we also review lots of documents for people looking to apply to the airlines. I can tell you that whilst we do see some excellent applications, we do regularly see very poor CVs and Covering Letters which I expect most companies would not even consider. You can see straight away that no thought has gone into the application, in some cases they don’t even mention the company by name, let alone highlight why they want to work for the company in any specific terms. It’s absolutely vital that each application is tailored to the airline you are applying to. Yes it’s a bit more work but you’ve just spent the last year or so training to get to this point so the least you can do is spent a few more minutes on each application to ensure it’s specific to the airline you are applying to. Writing “I would be proud to work for your esteemed company” makes it pretty clear that you haven’t put much thought into the application, and have likely sent the same Cover Letter to every airline you’ve applied to. You can read more about how to write application documents that stand out on our tailored CV and Cover Letter page.

The final reason some struggle to gain employment is that some people have the wrong attitude and aptitude. Commercial airlines are looking for a particular person and if you don’t fall into their “specification”, many would rather slow down their expansion or cancel flights than recruit someone who they don’t deem suitable.

So what are they looking for? Well these are a few things you might not have considered.

Someone who is commercially minded. Basically someone who is going to be actively considering the needs of the airline and it’s passengers when making decisions (after putting safety first of course). You aren’t taught this at flight school!

A team player. How well do you interact with others? You need to work with many, many people in a typical day at work and the airline needs someone who can do this effectively. How would you interact with the Captain and Cabin Crew? Are you likely to be overbearing or too timid? They want someone in the middle.

What leadership qualities do you have? The airline wants to recruit future Captains, not career First Officers.

How’s your customer service? It might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about what it takes to operate a commercial aircraft, but airline’s are placing more and more emphasis on their pilots interaction with customers in the same of customer service.

If you understand the above points, starting your commercial training within the next couple years looks like it could well be a good investment, and ultimately job prospects for freshly graduated pilots are as good as they’ve been in a long time. You must always remember however, that a commercial pilots licence isn’t an entitlement to a job with an airline, it’s a gateway.